Ben Shardlow
@shardlow.bsky.social
What if the Wolves beat the Thunder tonight?
two cartoon characters from wild kratts are looking at a squirrel
ALT: two cartoon characters from wild kratts are looking at a squirrel
media.tenor.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:33 AM
What if the Wolves beat the Thunder tonight?
Reposted by Ben Shardlow
The Creative Enterprise Zone is deeply disturbed by the raid at Bro-Tex, a long-time business in our area. Immigrants are essential to our creative, entrepreneurial, & industrial fabric. We stand w our neighbors & remain committed to a community where all feel safe, respected & able to thrive.
November 21, 2025 at 3:28 PM
The Creative Enterprise Zone is deeply disturbed by the raid at Bro-Tex, a long-time business in our area. Immigrants are essential to our creative, entrepreneurial, & industrial fabric. We stand w our neighbors & remain committed to a community where all feel safe, respected & able to thrive.
I just met the author last month after I gave a talk at the Humphrey School, and we met for coffee to discuss his ideas. Loved it. Great work, Branch!
"Walkable neighborhoods provide a less car-dependent lifestyle for families, which reduces the risk of auto-based accidents, a leading cause of death for kids. Walkability leads to better physical and mental health outcomes for kids as they grow."
www.minnpost.com/community-vo...
www.minnpost.com/community-vo...
Let's make downtown Minneapolis more kid-friendly - MinnPost
The city's 2035 Plan outlines a smart and ambitious strategy for downtown, except when it comes to kids. Here's how to do better.
www.minnpost.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:38 AM
I just met the author last month after I gave a talk at the Humphrey School, and we met for coffee to discuss his ideas. Loved it. Great work, Branch!
Reposted by Ben Shardlow
Owámniyomni Okhódayapi just announced the Dakota-led design for the restoration of five acres at Owámniyomni (St. Anthony Falls), adjacent to the Upper Lock on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Project construction is targeted to begin in spring 2026. Very exciting!
owamniyomni.org/design/
owamniyomni.org/design/
November 17, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Owámniyomni Okhódayapi just announced the Dakota-led design for the restoration of five acres at Owámniyomni (St. Anthony Falls), adjacent to the Upper Lock on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Project construction is targeted to begin in spring 2026. Very exciting!
owamniyomni.org/design/
owamniyomni.org/design/
I really enjoyed Purple Rain! The ways they updated the movie into a musical for modern sensibilities were smart, especially given some well-established weaknesses in the source material. 🙃
November 7, 2025 at 3:31 PM
I really enjoyed Purple Rain! The ways they updated the movie into a musical for modern sensibilities were smart, especially given some well-established weaknesses in the source material. 🙃
Nice burst of good Loring Park news this week - Exhibit A:
Today’s the day - The new Loring Greenway playground with wheelchair accessible pavement is installed and inspected and fences will come down today. This tangible investment in livability, safety, and child development will benefit downtown families for generations to come. 🫶
October 24, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Nice burst of good Loring Park news this week - Exhibit A:
This is the first time that I've seen the City of Minneapolis planning dept (CPED) post an explainer video about a proposed ordinance change - super smart way to demystify a complex topic. www.minneapolismn.gov/business-ser...
Sign code amendment
The City is reviewing the current zoning code for signs. The goal is to allow more flexibility for signs downtown.
www.minneapolismn.gov
October 22, 2025 at 10:34 PM
This is the first time that I've seen the City of Minneapolis planning dept (CPED) post an explainer video about a proposed ordinance change - super smart way to demystify a complex topic. www.minneapolismn.gov/business-ser...
Reposted by Ben Shardlow
This week, the City launch automated enforcement of speed limits at five high-risk intersections as part of a traffic camera safety pilot program. The pilot is a key part of the City’s award-winning Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries on Minneapolis streets.
October 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
This week, the City launch automated enforcement of speed limits at five high-risk intersections as part of a traffic camera safety pilot program. The pilot is a key part of the City’s award-winning Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries on Minneapolis streets.
Got to tour the Mpls Public Works Traffic Mgmt Center this week with the @moveminneapolis.bsky.social Advisory Board this week - highly recommend it. They print their own signs (~4,400 unique ones in the city!), manage signal timing, street painting, etc.
September 13, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Got to tour the Mpls Public Works Traffic Mgmt Center this week with the @moveminneapolis.bsky.social Advisory Board this week - highly recommend it. They print their own signs (~4,400 unique ones in the city!), manage signal timing, street painting, etc.
I brought my kids to the ribbon cutting for @fowlingmsp.bsky.social this morning - pretty fun. They’re excited about Royalston LRT Station opening in 2027 and have an idea for a walkway through to the Farmers Market.
September 13, 2025 at 5:54 PM
I brought my kids to the ribbon cutting for @fowlingmsp.bsky.social this morning - pretty fun. They’re excited about Royalston LRT Station opening in 2027 and have an idea for a walkway through to the Farmers Market.
I got to walk Jordan around the CEZ this morning! First time I’ve felt like I was there when looking at his pics and it’s actually been true.
On the Industry of Creative Manufacturing.
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota
September 12, 2025 at 11:04 PM
I got to walk Jordan around the CEZ this morning! First time I’ve felt like I was there when looking at his pics and it’s actually been true.
Dinner du Nord was really lovely last night! We talked with strangers, ate really good food from a new restaurant on Nicollet (Esther’s Table), and enjoyed a beautiful night downtown. I’m inspired by Scott Mayer - who started Doors Open, too - to organize such a complex event as a volunteer.
September 12, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Dinner du Nord was really lovely last night! We talked with strangers, ate really good food from a new restaurant on Nicollet (Esther’s Table), and enjoyed a beautiful night downtown. I’m inspired by Scott Mayer - who started Doors Open, too - to organize such a complex event as a volunteer.
Reposted by Ben Shardlow
This is the correct take. There's a special tragedy to St Paul's downward spiral that the DSA left, the ossified Save Our Summit right, and even the city's planners don't understand or are simply unwilling to face. A 🧵
Bottom line is there is a need in St. Paul to work with private developers/capital as unsavory as that may be, as the tax base is currently not there. This cannot be magicked away or ignored.
August 4, 2025 at 4:46 PM
This is the correct take. There's a special tragedy to St Paul's downward spiral that the DSA left, the ossified Save Our Summit right, and even the city's planners don't understand or are simply unwilling to face. A 🧵
Reposted by Ben Shardlow
Mariela Ajras is underway with the first of her two new Chroma Zone murals at The Wycliff in the Creative Enterprise Zone! She's creating a triptych called Motherhood and Migration, including her 2019 mural (seen here to the left where she is currently painting). www.chromazone.net/mariela-ajras
May 24, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Mariela Ajras is underway with the first of her two new Chroma Zone murals at The Wycliff in the Creative Enterprise Zone! She's creating a triptych called Motherhood and Migration, including her 2019 mural (seen here to the left where she is currently painting). www.chromazone.net/mariela-ajras
Reposted by Ben Shardlow
ChromaZone is such a great project in St. Anthony Park! The murals have aged really well, and keep getting better. www.twincities.com/2025/05/19/c...
Chroma Zone mural festival returns to St. Paul for sixth year
Since 2019, the festival has brought 62 murals by 72 artists to South St. Anthony Park, organizers say.
www.twincities.com
May 19, 2025 at 4:01 PM
ChromaZone is such a great project in St. Anthony Park! The murals have aged really well, and keep getting better. www.twincities.com/2025/05/19/c...
Happy Bike to Work Day! I celebrated by using our building’s secure bike parking room for the first time (shout-out, Young-Quinlan Building).
Isn’t she a beaut.
Isn’t she a beaut.
May 16, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Happy Bike to Work Day! I celebrated by using our building’s secure bike parking room for the first time (shout-out, Young-Quinlan Building).
Isn’t she a beaut.
Isn’t she a beaut.
I wrote an Op-Ed about the impending closure of the WestRock plant in Saint Paul and why places like it and the surrounding Creative Enterprise Zone matter for the city.
May 16, 2025 at 1:02 AM
I wrote an Op-Ed about the impending closure of the WestRock plant in Saint Paul and why places like it and the surrounding Creative Enterprise Zone matter for the city.
Information people need to understand changing dynamics in downtown Minneapolis is now available in one central dashboard. Thanks for raising awareness of this program, @minneapolisvoices.bsky.social!
Here's a quick thread on the Retail Inventory tool and why I'm excited about it in particular.
Here's a quick thread on the Retail Inventory tool and why I'm excited about it in particular.
Minneapolis Downtown Council debuts tools for tracking metrics by neighborhood
The tools will help the Downtown Council carry out goals laid out in its 2035 plan.
www.downtownvoices.news
April 16, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Information people need to understand changing dynamics in downtown Minneapolis is now available in one central dashboard. Thanks for raising awareness of this program, @minneapolisvoices.bsky.social!
Here's a quick thread on the Retail Inventory tool and why I'm excited about it in particular.
Here's a quick thread on the Retail Inventory tool and why I'm excited about it in particular.
Reposted by Ben Shardlow
Dayne St. Clair of #MNUFC joined us for our last episode. Give it a listen!
theloonybinpod.com/episode/55-l...
theloonybinpod.com/episode/55-l...
April 8, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Dayne St. Clair of #MNUFC joined us for our last episode. Give it a listen!
theloonybinpod.com/episode/55-l...
theloonybinpod.com/episode/55-l...
A group that’s fascinating to me - UMN students who calmly wait at the Stadium Village LRT stop and get off at East Bank. A 0.4 mile trip. Stand and wait for a train rather than walk? I don’t get it.
March 27, 2025 at 4:11 PM
A group that’s fascinating to me - UMN students who calmly wait at the Stadium Village LRT stop and get off at East Bank. A 0.4 mile trip. Stand and wait for a train rather than walk? I don’t get it.
Here’s why downtown Mpls added 25k residents in 15 years (9,200 since 2020!).
@minneapolisvoices.bsky.social
@minneapolisvoices.bsky.social
Here's why downtown Minneapolis gained 25K residents in 15 years
Ben Shardlow of the Minneapolis Downtown Council and Downtown Improvement District shares his thoughts on the 60,000-plus resident milestone.
www.downtownvoices.news
February 26, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Here’s why downtown Mpls added 25k residents in 15 years (9,200 since 2020!).
@minneapolisvoices.bsky.social
@minneapolisvoices.bsky.social
“Downtown Minneapolis now has more residents than Edina, Minnetonka, and Apple Valley, some of the Twin Cities area’s biggest and most affluent suburbs.”
Downtown Minneapolis population surpasses 60K residents in 2024
More than 9,200 people have moved to the city’s core since 2020.
www.downtownvoices.news
February 21, 2025 at 12:32 AM
“Downtown Minneapolis now has more residents than Edina, Minnetonka, and Apple Valley, some of the Twin Cities area’s biggest and most affluent suburbs.”
Reposted by Ben Shardlow
Downtown Minneapolis has a larger population than all but 15 Minnesota cities. tcbmag.com/downtown-min...
Downtown Minneapolis Population Surpasses 60K
Downtown Minneapolis added just about 2,000 new residents in 2024, according to the latest statistics from the Minneapolis Downtown Council.
tcbmag.com
February 20, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Downtown Minneapolis has a larger population than all but 15 Minnesota cities. tcbmag.com/downtown-min...
Reposted by Ben Shardlow
In MN, we need energy to stay warm in winter & cool in summer.
Last week, we toured a district #energy plant in Mpls.
They deliver steam & chilled water to buildings, which is currently mostly created by burning fossil gas.
This matters for #climate.
🧵on district energy & making it clean.
Last week, we toured a district #energy plant in Mpls.
They deliver steam & chilled water to buildings, which is currently mostly created by burning fossil gas.
This matters for #climate.
🧵on district energy & making it clean.
February 4, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Ben Shardlow
"The highway blighted the neighborhood in ways that led to further destruction in the 1970s, when HUD removed 60-plus other houses. It was only through major neighborhood opposition that every house in the place wasn’t condemned in order to convert the whole area into industrial zoning."
Lost South St. Anthony Park
South St. Anthony Park’s homes, businesses and even a church disappeared for Highway 280. What was lost, and what still survives?
streets.mn
February 4, 2025 at 5:53 PM
"The highway blighted the neighborhood in ways that led to further destruction in the 1970s, when HUD removed 60-plus other houses. It was only through major neighborhood opposition that every house in the place wasn’t condemned in order to convert the whole area into industrial zoning."